This year has been a pro-democracy year for the Indian subcontinent comprising of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bhutan and of course miniscule Maldives.
Pakistan changed over to democracy after seven years of military rule. Maoist toppled the monarchy in Nepal after a continued insurgency spanning over a decade that took a toll of not less than 13000 lives and about $2 billion in infrastructure damages.
Not only that, even in democratic elections too, the Maoist proved their mettle by bagging 220 seats in a house of 594 and coming out with flying colors as the single largest party thereby proving that communists too can win direct elections. To top all this, the guerrilla outfit’s leader Pushpa Kamal Dahal (popularly known as ‘Prachanda’, meaning fierce in Nepali and Hindi languages) managed to become the First Prime Minister of Democratic Nepal ending 240 years of monarchy.
But the topmost surprise was the conversion of monarchy to democracy in Bhutan by none other than the fifth king himself without the slightest power struggle whatsoever ending 107 years of uninterrupted monarchy. Even most of the people of Bhutan were not ready for this transition but saluted their king for this generous act. However in a replica of British political system, the king worked out a niche for himself by retaining the position of constitutional head of state.
However although the democracies of Nepal and Bhutan are born to stay, the same cannot be said about Pakistan, which has seen bouts of democracy and authoritarian governments since its independence in 1947. In fact terrorist in Pakistan, who are anti-Americans are not likely to allow the civilian government to function normally with the end result that a military change over may again occur in about 5-years time.